This Does Not Mean That I Fancy You!
by Grapesy
Summary: A normal night of studying in the Common Room before rounds during Seventh Year takes a bit of a twist, like the addition of a first kiss. Set in late '77.


James had his long legs stretched out over nearly the entire length of the sofa in the Gryffindor common room, his shoulder blades sinking into the plushy arm of it resting behind him. He would have been completely sprawled out were it not for someone sitting on the far end of it, Lily Evans to be exact. They were studying for a Potions quiz that was to be tomorrow morning, or at least Lily was. James had spent most of the past forty-five minutes going between reading the same sentence over and over again in the textbook in his lap and watching her as she worked. It was safe to say that he thought Miss Evans was a much more interesting subject to study than Potions; one that he happened to pay more attention to. His fascination with her had not lessened at all over the years, and if anything it it had grown considerably since the start of this new school year. That probably had something to do with the fact that he had been appointed Head Boy while she was Head Boy, which meant that even if she wanted nothing more to avoid him... she couldn't.

When first seeing her on the Hogwarts Express this year, she had told him in no specific terms though he had obviously somehow bribed the Headmaster into giving him this position it didn't change her thoughts toward him. Now James still had no idea why he had been given this title seeing as he hadn't even been a Prefect, but for the very reason that it allowed him time with Lily he didn't think on the semantics too much. Over the course of the first two months of school, he wouldn't go as far as to say she had warmed up to him considerably but some sort of unspoken agreement had been met between the two of them. Though she still had no problem pointing out each and every single flaw of his.

Lily turned a page in her text book and James stifled a yawn. It wasn't that horribly late, and they would still have to go out to make their rounds, but he was bored. Potions? He knew Potions... well enough. With Lily's constant help, of course. Okay, maybe he wasn't at the tippy-top of the class, and maybe he could raise his marks a bit higher, but he had never seen much sense in studying things you already knew. All it did was amount to being bored.

"Yawning won't help you pass this quiz in the morning, Potter," the redhead spoke without looking up at him, her quill scratching against the piece of parchment being used to take down even more notes than she had already put together on the two chapters this looming test of their knowledge was to cover.

James scoffed softly. "I've been thinking about this quiz you speak of, Evans, and do you think it would be considered abuse of my Head Boy privileges if I took points from Slytherin because Professor Slughorn is obviously trying to drive us mad with it?" Oh yes, there was that infuriating smirk that he would never take out of his arsenal. Her quill stopped, and he swore he heard a long-suffering sigh before she looked at him pointedly.

"You're an idiot," Lily simply said, but he swore he saw a trace of a smile on her face. That could have simply been the cause of the roaring flames of the fireplace casting shadows, though. Not to mention some wishful thinking on his part. She held that gaze for a moment more, he himself sliding down involuntarily in his positioning. "And if you don't get your foot out of my side, I'm going to take points from you," she groused, swatting at his leg as she tried to focus on not-him. James did have to admit, that had to be a pretty hard feat. He was rather distracting, after all.

Lifting up an arm, he hooked his elbow on the arm of the couch behind him, in one swift movement shutting his book, pulling himself up, then swinging his legs to hit the floor. Where his bum had just been, his textbook now lay, he instead choosing to shimmy his way down the couch to sit right next to Lily. "Let me make it up to you," he said as he hunched down to her level, leaning his shoulder against hers. To even further invade her personal space, he dipped his face in close to the side of hers...

Only to find the palm of her hand pushing him away.

"Merlin- James- Stop it. I'm actually trying to study, because unlike you I care about my marks." She spared him a glance and this time he was sure of it, there had been the faintest flicker of a grin playing across her features.

With a loud sigh, he sunk back into the cushions, letting himself slide down once more though he stopped before falling off the edge by the heels of his shoes digging into the stone floor below. "I know I'm rather brill, but really? Merlin? I'm all for compliments, but that might be taking it a bit far. James will work fine; I promise." From the vantage point, he couldn't make out her face, but when she spoke again it was quite obvious to both of them that she was anything but annoyed. Or at least not entirely.

"James Not Merlin Potter, you... I've half a mind to take my work up to my dorm and leave you down here all by your lonesome until we've got to go make rounds."

He let out a startled gasp, bolting upwards to sit in a grand display of, well, James. "No. No, don't leave me down here." Her hand that was closet to him was grabbed, James turning at an angle were he sat to face her. "What ever would I do if I didn't have you to constantly tell me how loathesome and utterly horrible a person I am?"

While it appeared she was at first caught off guard by this all, Lily's lips did form a thin smile that he could tell she was trying to stop from growing bigger. It was all kinds of adorable. "I- You-" She sighed, "James..."

He sat up as straight as humanly possible, as if he was hanging on her every word. "Me. You. Lily. Yes?" he retorted without missing a beat. It was undeniable now, Lily was going to smile and it was going to ruin her entire campaign about how much she couldn't stand him. She'd smile and he'd point it out to her, then she'd tell him to bugger off and possibly throw something at him. It wasn't much, but he'd go through all of this long and drawn out game they had started to play. For a smile. Ohhh, the guys would never let him hear the end of it if they could see these silly interactions between he and Lily when they were alone. But he really didn't care.

That smile appeared for a brief second before she huffed and it was gone. "Let go of my hand, I need it to write." With that she yanked her hand away, obviously much faster and forcefully than either of them expected, seeing as she also succeeded in pulling James towards her. He wouldn't have been more surprised if he woke up with the curtains around his bed sewn to his head. To keep himself from completely crashing into her, he threw out his other hand to rest on the arm of the couch on the other side of her. This happened to leave them in quite the compromising position. Indeed. And it was quite apparent by the way the two stared at each other for a moment with a mixture of shock and confusion, their noses nearly touching.

"Erm," was the best James could come up with, countered by Lily's well placed, "Uh."

The thought did cross his mind that he should pull away from her, but something else took over. Some need? No, no that couldn't be it. Maybe just one of those stupid impulses he had far too often than was healthy? Yes, that must be it.

Without any real warning James cleared the minimal space between them and pressed his lips against hers. He half-expected to get slapped right away, but what the hell? Was she actually kissing him ba- The thought hadn't even fully developed in his mind before she had shoved him back, rather roughly at that. "Potter!" There was a slight wince on Lily's end as she realised just how loud she had been, countering instead with a hissed, "Potter!"

For some reason, James held up his hands defensively as if he was expecting to seriously be attacked now. "What!" Like he didn't know. Those green eyes focused on him, narrowing into a look he knew all so well, and yep, here it came. He didn't really have a chance to get a word in edgewise, because she was off and bitching him out about what he had just done. James... wasn't even truly sure she was really talking in any known language, but perhaps something she had made up on the spot based off of the rage she felt. Or was it rage? Was she? No. She couldn't be. Was Lily? He must have lost his mind because there was no way she was actually blushing. That look of pure and utter puzzlement came over his face again, but it was soon evident that Lily Evans was definitely blushing.

Huh.

Canting his head to the side a bit as she continued to give him a piece of her mind, a horrible idea slipped into his own. A thoroughly horrible, and at the same time wonderful, idea. Perhaps showing off the fact that he really did not think before acting, James moved forward - narrowly avoiding being hit by her wild hand gestures - his own palm coming to rest on the side of her jaw as he leaned in and kissed her again. It might be true that the boy had a death wish... This could end horribly, but lo and behold, this time he was sure he felt her lips moving against his. Success! With the knowledge in mind that she could potentially be planning on hexing him like she had in the past, he was alright with that at this very moment. Right now? There were very little few things that could bother him. Somehow his free hand ended up tangled in her long hair, one of her small hands at the side of his neck while the other rested on his chest.

And then suddenly, she pulled back from him the slightest bit, though he could feel her breath against his lips still. "This- this does NOT mean that I fancy you."

James pulled back enough so he could look her straight on. "Who... said anything about me fancying you, either?" he asked dismissively, though it didn't take long for that smirk to slide back onto his face as he leaned forward to snog her a third time. 


End file.
